It goes without saying that it’s the games that receive the unanimous, industry-wide praise every year that go on to be enshrined as the actual greats – your Baldur’s Gate 3s, your Elden Rings, your Tears of the Kingdoms – but oftentimes, it’s when a game divides opinion in radical ways that it truly captures attention. Obviously, any game that splits its player base to the extent that there’s as significant an amount of people who’re absolutely in love with it as there are those who hate it is going to be a potentially risky investment of time and money for anyone- but such games also often boast unique visions and a distinct voice unlike any other, making them that much more appealing to many at the same time.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl launched not too long ago, and immediately proved to be another prominent example of exactly that kind of release. Launching after years of anticipation, multiple delays, and countless trials and tribulations for developer GSC Game World behind the scenes, the open world first-person shooter has won itself a lot of fans with its unique, horrifying, and expansive offerings, while at the same time, with technical rough edges and other eccentricities baked into its very design, it has also turned quite a few players away. Personally, I’ve been massively impressed with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, as I expressed in my review of the game for GamingBolt, in which I awarded it a score of 9/10- but even the shooter’s most ardent fans will tell you that it’s not hard to understand why it has split the player base the way it has.
In a nutshell, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is brutally difficult, and to an extent that you honestly may not grasp until you’ve actually played the game (unless, of course, you’re familiar with the series, in which case you have some idea what you’re in for). Death is highly frequent, and the causes of death are shockingly varied. The game keeps finding ways to kill you, and demands that you learn more each mistake. If someone were to be turned off by that demanding nature, I honestly wouldn’t blame them. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, as much as I like it, demands a lot from you in more ways than one, and if you’re looking for an easygoing experience that you can enjoy without having to spend too much energy on it, this may be the exact wrong fit.
In many ways, in fact, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is almost deliberately designed to be hostile. But honestly, if GSC Game World had delivered a game with little to no friction, little to no challenge, and honestly, little to no jank, you can be sure that there would have been a decent number of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. faithful out there who would have cried foul about the series losing its identity, about its revival attempting to appeal to newcomers and mainstream audiences by losing crucial parts of the series’ identity. That’s because from day one, extreme challenge and friction have been a pivotal part of everything S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has done- a fact that GSC Game World clearly didn’t lose sight of during Heart of Chornobyl’s development.
So one one hand, it’s definitely easy to understand why the game’s absolute refusal to hold players’ hands, how stubbornly it sticks to its most eccentric idiosyncrasies, and its extremely difficult nature (even on the lowest difficulty) will mean that it just isn’t going to be for a great many people out there. But then again, it’s not meant to be. As I said in my review, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 knows exactly what sort of game it wants to be, and it’s going to be that game whether or not you like it. For my money, the vision that it sells of its danger-strewn, unpredictable, terrifying open world is one that instantly had its hooks in me, and the more I played the game, the more I fell in love with the experience that it was crafting.
Gamification of progression is something that has become hardcoded into games – specifically open world ones like this one – over the years, but S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 makes every feel incredibly organic in a way that few other games have managed, and a lot of that is down to the fact that it does force players to pay attention and learn. That means that a lot of the progression and growth that happens throughout the experience is happening because you’re learning through your own first-hand experiences in the Zone. That is something that the game is only able to accomplish through some of its most unusual tendencies – like how it remains consistently intent on removing abstractions wherever possible and grounding players in its world.
Of course, just because S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is as successful with some of its riskiest and most divisive aspects as it is doesn’t mean that there are some parts of the game that objectively do miss the mark. Take, for instance, the rough technical state that it has launched in, which is something that’s going to detract from the experience no matter how hard you buy into its core vision. GSC Game World deserves credit for even being able to release a massive AAA game on this scale given the circumstances under which it has been developed (especially in the last few years), but there’s also no denying that in its current state, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is a mess. There’s just no two ways about it- there’s far too many technical issues in the game, both big and small, and it’s bad enough that even the game’s loudest fans will tell you that you might be best served holding off for a few weeks and jump into the game once a couple of patches have rolled out to address some of its more critical problems.
Clearly, then, there’s a lot to love about S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, and at the same time, a lot that can spark your ire. All of it depends entirely on your tastes, and there’s absolutely no denying that the game will turn many away for legitimate, valid reasons. Those reasons, however, aren’t necessarily objective flaws- to the extent that it is exactly those reasons that make S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 the gem that it is in the eyes of many. With the game having sold over a million units in less than a week in spite of also being on Game Pass, clearly, it is attracting players in droves, in spite of how clearly divisive it is.
What the future holds for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl will be interesting to witness, but clearly, there’s going to be plenty of activity to keep an eye on for those who are invested in the game. Not only has GSC Game World confirmed that it will be releasing several patches and updates for the game to continue addressing feedback from players, the studio has also previously confirmed that it plans on releasing two post-launch story expansion for the game- and the prospect of new chunks of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 content that builds on the base game’s biggest strengths while addressing its weaknesses is an incredibly exciting one. Add to that the promise of extensive mod support on both PC and Xbox, and it’s likely that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is going to be sticking around and maintain a healthy player base for a long time to come.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.
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